Vol 2, # 121

   Monday, November 30, 1998

YELLOWSTONE
WEATHER
Highs 40s, Lows 20s
Some Snow Showers
More Weather
Road Conditions

Yellowstone Net Home Page

EDITOR-IN-
CHIEF
Bruce Gourley

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK (YNET) -- A few weeks ago the Yellowstone Net Newspaper did a story on one man's proposed guidelines for national parks, some seventy years ago.  William C. Gregg, after visiting Yellowstone in the early 1920s, realized the value of national parks and proposed the following guidelines:

1.  National Parks are created for ... the whole public.
2.  No commercial project -- for private advantage -- must be permitted.
3.  Park extensions should be advocated only after careful and unprejudiced study of the
     reasons for and against them.
4.  The motives of plausible persons who express great devotion for the parks they wish to
     exploit are always to be suspected.
5.  Persons living near a national park who feel themselves harmed by their situation must
     bear the burden cheerfully.

Amazingly, Gregg's words are just as relative today as they were back in the 1920s, when some businessmen and officials were bent on exploiting Yellowstone's water resources.

Protecting and preserving our national parks is not something new -- individuals such as William Gregg have long had the foresight to know that it is in the best interest of the American people and the world to preserve Yellowstone and other national treasures for all generations. 

Click here to write to your congressperson.

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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS AND COLUMNISTS

Ralph Maughan
Kim Steinbacher
Kevin Sanders
Steve Brashear
Clint Wilkes
Tim Gourley
Hon. Bob Gammage
Ruth Colter-Frick
Lee Whittlesey
Tom Mazzarisi
Russ Finley
David Monteith
Denise Elmer
Dr. Bob Bara

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (YNET)-- The winter season in Yellowstone begins in two-and-a-half weeks.  The winter season runs from mid-December to early-March this year, and the spring/summer season will begin the first of May.

Now is the time to be planning your winter or summer visit to Yellowstone, and the new 1999 Yellowstone Net Vacation Planner is now available to help you in your planning.

The full-color Vacation Planner is packed with information about Yellowstone, including information on lodging both inside and near the Park, the Park's wildlife and geysers, activities in and near the Park, a kid's page, information on what to expect in winter, and much more.

The centerpiece of the Planner is a $50 rebate coupon, redeemable when you make your Yellowstone reservations through Yellowstone Net Vacations.

The Yellowstone Net Vacation Planner is available for $20.  You can order online or by phone by clicking here.

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YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (NPS) -- Possibly as early as 40,000 years ago a series of mountain glaciers moved downslope carving out many valleys. During full glaciation an icecap as thick as 3000 feet covered most of what is now Yellowstone. These glaciers retreated 14,000 years ago. In a short period of time plants, animals, and humans colonized the landscape. Following delglaciation the climate was still colder and moister than present conditions. High altitude subalpine and alpine vegetation communities dominated the area, with mixed conifer forests at lower elevation basins. Trees appeared 11,500 years ago, beginning with Engelmann spruce, followed by lodge pole pine, Douglas fir, whitebark pine, and limber pine. Between 9500 and 5000 years ago a period of increased warmth and aridity occurred resulting in an increase of Douglas fir and aspen, and other drought resistant species. Fire frequency may also have increased during this time. By about 5000 years ago vegetation similar to that of today flourished.

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DENALI NATIONAL PARK, Alaska (NPS) -- The National Park Service is establishing temporary regulations to maintain the closure of a portion of Denali National Park and Preserve to snowmachine use this winter.

This continued closure of the two million acres that formed the pre-Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980 (ANILCA) portion of Mount McKinley National Park will be effective for one year while the National Park Service gathers additional information on potential impacts of snowmachine use and begins work on a backcountry management plan. Public hearings on the temporary regulations will be held in Fairbanks, the Healy-Cantwell area, the Talkeetna/Trapper Creek area, and Anchorage during the week of November 22, 1998. The National Park Service intends to introduce additional regulations in early 1999 to allow completion of planning in 2001.

The temporary action applies to about one-third of Denali National Park and Preserve. The original Mount McKinley National Park, most of which was designated as wilderness ANILCA, has never been open to snowmachine. The remaining two-thirds of the park and preserve - some 4 million acres - remains open to snowmachine use when there is adequate snow cover for traditional activities. Snowmachine riding on the south side of the range near the Yentna, Kahiltna, and Ruth Glaciers is unchanged, as is riding in the Dunkle Township and areas southwest of the West Fork of the Chulitna River. The Stampede Corridor and northern tier of the park in the ANILCA additions remain open.

ANILCA provides that snowmachine use for traditional activities will continue to be allowed in the park additions, subject to reasonable regulation. Denali National Park is beginning work on a backcountry management plan and general management plan amendment to address this and many other issues. The plan will include a management strategy for snowmachine use and an environmental impact statement in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act.

The proposed temporary regulation will allow time for the necessary planning, information gathering, and public input. Regulations can be amended after the plan is completed in two to three years.

Comments will also be accepted by mail, and further information is available, by writing to Steven P. Martin, Superintendent, Denali National Park and Preserve, P.O. Box 9, Denali Park, Alaska 99755.

Telephone (907) 683-2294.  Comments may also be sent by e-mail to: denalisnowmachinecomments@nps.gov

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